When you think of an international border, what most likely comes to mind is a chain-link fence topped by three strands of barbed wire, or perhaps a guard shack and a few armed sentries straddling the center line of a highway.
That was yesterday’s border. Today, with the threat of terrorism and a broadening set of socioeconomic problems associated with immigration, and an ever-increasing number of ways to enter the country, a border is no longer just a checkpoint or a line on a map, but a complex concept whose problems require multidimensional thinking.
Working with a range of sponsors and partners, engineers, and scientists at Sandia are playing a key role as part of the national strategy to enhance and ensure security of U.S. borders. Current efforts focus primarily on maritime and land borders — and the most significant threats and pathways in those areas.
An estimated 500 million people, 130 million vehicles, 16 million trucks, 2.5 million rail cars, and 5.7 million cargo containers cross U.S. borders every year. Protecting these borders from illegal entry of people and materials while fostering the flow of legitimate trade and travel is an incredible challenge, said Jane Ann Lamph, Land Borders Program Manager.